The Things Unseen

Jonathan Garrett

I saw them once, out by the garden. It was near midnight and the moon was high. A westerly wind brushed the trees and wound its way quietly through the tall grass under my window. Long shadows played against the wall opposite my bed, some of them moving just slightly more than the others.

I don’t know what it was that woke me up that night, but every evening when the sun goes down, I ask God why I could not have simply continued my slumber that night. That was the night when I saw them. It was the first time, though I fear not the last. That one glimpse of them was enough for a lifetime and more. At first I didn’t know what I was looking at, because my eyes had not yet become focused in the dim light and…and there are other reasons besides, but to explain them here is beyond my mind’s ability. To put it to paper would be to admit what I try to so hard to believe was merely a trick of eye and mind at that dark hour.

That was the only time that I saw them. Just that one time. I can’t forget what I saw, no, not matter how hard I try to forget. Stiff drink and brightly lit parties help for a time, but soon enough I am sober and alone and the lights have all faded. Even when I sleep that sight haunts me. Always there in my dreams, those…things. And when I am awake I can feel their presence somewhere close by, perhaps silently waiting under my window. Waiting for what I cannot say…or allow myself to imagine.

Oh, God, how I wish I had not seen what I had seen. How many times must I seem them over and over again in my dreams?! How many times must I feel them close at hand, waiting for me to reach the peek of my madness?! Why must you torment me so?!

Even now the shadows play across the far wall, dancing a dance that is not of this earthly realm. There is meaning to it, truly there is, a meaning that is known only in the dark corners and in the hidden rooms of humankind. A dance of unholy horror and madness. Only darkness can come of it! Only death!

The light scratching against the window, the rustle of leaves, the distant howls, and the creak of old boards. I know what these sounds truly are, only I. Not a branch, or the wind, or wolves, or whatever it is that people say causes their house to creak at night. No, it is not those ordinary and comforting things, but something else entirely. Something neither human nor animal. Something not of this Earth or any good and wholesome place. No, no, no, it far worse. Far worse than any can possible imagine. Only I know the truth about the sounds that occur unseen in the night. Only I have seen the things that cause those sounds to be!

Even now, dear God, even now I can hear them prowling about. Under my window, in the hallways, on the stairs, and in the room above me. At any moment they will come rushing through the door to claim me. I can feel it all the way down to my bones that one day, as I lay cowering in my bed, they will take me. To where, I do not know, cannot know. And for what purpose…only…it will be terrible and horrible whatever it is.

I write this now so that you may know that I saw them, the things which are unseen, and that I did not flee in terror or throw myself at their…”mercy”. How laughable to use such a term when talking of them. Though I faced my fate with fear in my heart, I faced it nonetheless! They cannot take that away from! Whatever else they take, I will still have that!! Come for me, oh unseen things, and take from me what you will! I am afraid of you but I will not run as you so dearly want me to! CAN YOU HEAR MY WORDS?! I AM NO COWARD!!

I do not know, and cannot imagine, what their ultimate goal is in our world. It is surely something which must be, but cannot be, stopped. I do not know what you will be able to do with this information, for I fear that my mind will not allow me to put down more than scant details and vague hints. You must do with this what you can. I hope for your sake that you can do more than I. I…I am weak. Feeble. Powerless to stop the things which invade my home and my sanity, perhaps if I had not seen what I saw on that night, I could do something more. But the fear, the fear!, it is paralyzing and I can do no more than wait in the darkness. When the day comes my mind throws off the night and its terrors and I go about my daily life, but when the night comes I remember. I remember! Why must I remember?! WHY?! I would give all that I have to forget, all of it! Someone please save me from this horror!

I…have said all I can. There is more, much more, but to put it all here might well tear my mind asunder, more so than it already is. The fear is powerful, you see. Too powerful for me alone to handle. Too powerful for humanity alone to handle.

The darkness is closing in, darker now than I have every seen it before. They are drawing near to me! The hour I have long feared is now come! Take courage in my sacrifice, you who find this!! Take courage that I